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Palliative Care Essentials for Medical Students
1. Palliative Care:
What every 1st year medical
student needs to know
Suzana Makowski, MD MMM FACP FAAHPM
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Slide presentation for 1st year medical students in the Cancer Concepts Course at
UMass Medical School
2. Overview
• What is Palliative Care?
• What is Hospice?
• How do we care for the dying?
3. Palliative Care
“an approach that improves
the quality of life of
patients and their families
facing the problems
associated with life-
threatening illness, through
the prevention and relief of
suffering by means of early
identification and
impeccable assessment and
treatment of pain and other
problems, physical,
psychosocial and spiritual.”
WHO definition
4. Why discuss palliative care?
• “It’s not about killing
Granny; it’s about
keeping Granny alive as
long as possible — with
the best quality of life.”
- Diane Meier, NYTimes
5. NEJM Study (2010): Early Palliative Care improves longevity and
quality of life for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHtHXGhTIC4
11. Cancer pain prevalence
• 50 to 90 percent of oncology inpatients report
breakthrough pain
• 35 percent of community based oncology practices
patients report breakthrough pain
• 1 in 3 patients with active cancer report pain
• 3 out of 4 of patients with advanced cancer report pain
12. Causes of cancer pain
• Bone metastases
• Visceral metastases
• Immobility
• Neuropathic pain
• Soft tissue
• Constipation
• Esophagitis
• Lymphedema
• Muscle cramps
• Chronic postoperative scar
• Adapted from Twycross R, Harcourt J, Bergl S: A survey of pain in patients with
advanced cancer. J Pain Symptom Manage 1996;12:273-282.
13. Effects of under treated pain
Physical Emotional Existential
• Increased catabolic demands:
poor wound healing, weakness, muscle
breakdown
• Decreased limb movement:
increased risk of DVT/PE
• Respiratory effects:
shallow breathing, tachypnea, cough
suppression increasing risk of pneumonia and
atelectasis
• Sodium and water retention Decreased
gastrointestinal mobility
• Tachycardia and elevated blood pressure
• Decreased functional status
• Increased chronic pain
Depression
Anxiety
Decreased
intimacy
Suicidality
Suffering –
“why me?”
15. Pain Quality
Category Cause Symptom Examples
Physiologic Brief exposure to a
noxious stimulus
Rapid yet brief pain
perception
Touching a pin or hot
object
Nociceptive/infla
mmatory
Somatic or visceral tissue
injury with mediators
having an impact on
intact nervous tissue
Moderate to severe pain,
described as crushing or
stabbing
Surgical pain,
traumatic pain, sickle
cell crisis
Neuropathic
Damage or dysfunction
of peripheral nerves or
CNS
Severe lancinating,
burning or electrical
shock like pain
Neuropathy, CRPS.
Postherpetic Neuralgia
Mixed
Combined somatic and
nervous tissue injury
Combinations of
symptoms; soft tissue plus
radicular pain
Low back pain, back
surgery pain
17. Why is this dangerous?
• Mrs. Dolores de Barriga is a 67 year old Peruvian
immigrant with metastatic colon cancer, who has
increasing abdominal pain. She has a colostomy and has
regular bowel movements.
• Her current pain regimen is:
• Morphine ER 15mg twice daily
• Percocet (oxycodone 5mg + acetaminophen 500mg) – 1-2
tablets every 4 hours as needed. She has been taking 2
tablets every 4 hours for the last week.
19. Opioid Pharmacology
Short-acting Long-acting
• Hydrocodone/APAP
• Oxycodone +/- APAP
• Morphine
• Hydromorphone
• Oral transmucosal fentanyl
• Transdermal fentanyl
• methadone
• morphine ER
• oxycodone ER
• Cmax ~ 45 min
• T1/2 ~ 2-4 hours
• Except fentanyl
Cmax and T1/2 vary based on
formulation and drug
20. A quick quiz
What is the half life (range) for opioids?
• 2-4 hours
How many half lives to get to steady state?
• 4-5
What do you base your scheduled dosing on: Cmax or C?
• t1/2
What do you base your breakthrough dosing on: Cmax or t1/2?
• Cmax
21. Opioid pharmacology
(except methadone)
• Follow first order kinetics
• Conjugated by liver
• 90-95% excreted in urine
• Dehydration, renal failure, severe hepatic failure
• Decrease interval/dosing size
• If oliguria/anuria
• STOP routine dosing (basal rate) of morphine
• Use ONLY PRN
Why is morphine
contraindicated in
renal failure?
22. Morphine metabolites
build-up disproportionately in renal failure
• Morphine 3-glucoronide
• Not an opioid agonist
• Stimulates the GABA/glycinergic
system
• Can cause neuro-excitation –
agitation, hyperalgesia, myoclonus,
seizures.
• Morphine 6-glucoronide
• Active metabolite that acts as an
opioid agonist – especially against the
mu-opioid receptor
23. Palliative Care
• Same “rules” apply
• CMO ≠ Continuous Morphine Only
Optimal symptom
management
• Goals of care based
• Not problem based
Personalized
healthcare
• Bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach
• Interdisciplinary
Whole-person
care
24. Myth: Palliative care = “no more treatment”
We assess the values & goals of a patient, designing care around them
25.
26. Massachusetts facts
On an average day in Massachusetts:
144
people die
A few
childre
n
1
infant
Some
middle
aged
Most
over 75
29. Hospice care:
1 way to help stay home
• In the United States, hospice is a form of care provided to
patients whose life expectancy is 6 months or less.
• It is generally provided in the patient’s home, but can be
received in nursing homes, hospices houses, etc.
• It is a Medicare benefit (that many other insurances
cover)
• Its approach is to help people live as well as possible, for
the time they have left: alleviating symptoms, reaching
goals, supporting family, addressing spiritual needs.
• As long as a person’s prognosis remains 6 months, the
benefit does not run out.
• A patient may be “full code”, “DNR/DNI” – according to
their goals and preferences on hospice.
30. Hospice Home Palliative (VN)
Requires Prognosis <6months
(Not required: code status,
primary caregiver)
Home-bound only
Must show improvement
Services Nurse, social worker,
chaplain, volunteer, home
health aide
Nurse, PT/OT
DME* All covered Not covered
Meds Covered if associated with
dx
Not covered
Hours 24/7 Regular business hours
Other Bereavement for family up
to 13 months after death
None
*DME = durable medical equipment (bed, oxygen, commode, etc.)
34. What we know
• Until recently, only 10% of medical students had any
courses on how to care for dying patients.
• Practicing non-abandonment is tough when we don’t
know what to do.
• Know the signs and symptoms of dying and means to
treat them.
• Address fears, anticipate problems
• Sir William Osler: To cure sometimes, to alleviate
often, to comfort always.
“
“
35. Physiology of dying with cancer
• Cancer Cachexia/Anorexia
• Metabolic demands of cancer outpace that of the body
• Malnutrition: protein and fat depletion
• Loss of intravascular oncotic (osmotic) pressure due to low
albumin and other proteins
• “third spacing” of fluid to abdomen, lungs, subcutaneous
tissue
How does this differ from starvation?
36. Physiology of dying
• Decreased perfusion of brain
• Increased fatigue, somnolence
• Poor control of bowel and bladder
• Change in respiratory pattern (late)
• Decreased reflexes, including gag and
swallow – leads to pooling of saliva in back
of throat
• Decreased cardiac output
• Poor peripheral perfusion: skin breakdown
• Decreased perfusion of the kidneys (low
intravascular volume/pressure, low cardiac
output) leads to pre-renal azotemia
Signs/Symptoms
• Decreased
energy
• Increased sleep
• Respiratory
pattern changes
• “Terminal
secretions”
• Skin breakdown
• Peripheral
“mottling”
38. What signs/symptoms might she experience?
• Dolores returns
• she is now pancytopenic
due to bone marrow
involvement
• plts now 5,000/mcl,
• Hct 12%,
• WBC 2,000/mcl
Pan = all
Cyto = cell (usually referring to blood cells)
Penia = poverty
39. Where could she bleed?
• Brain
• Seizures, brain stem herniation
• Mucosa
• Nose bleeds, vaginal bleeds
• Lungs
• Dyspnea, hemoptysis
• GI tract
• Hematemesis, aspiration of blood,
bloody stool
• Retroperitoneal
• Back pain
What to do once you can no
longer transfuse blood? – Be
prepared
• For bleeds you can see:
dark blue towels, surgicel
or topical thrombin for
nose/mucosa
• Benzodiazepam for
seizures
• Opioid and benzo of
phenobarbitol for
hemoptysis, pain, etc.
42. Summary
• Most physicians practice Palliative Care every day
• Palliative care includes any care that enhances quality of
life (QOL) – regardless of its effect on longevity (it may
prolong life!)
• Prognostication is hard, but important. It helps patients
plan, achieve goals that they can reach.
• Palliative care can help patients at any stage of a serious
illness, while hospice is available for patients whose
prognosis is on average 6 months.
43. How to learn more
• EPEC (Education on Palliative & End-of-Life Care)
• Lois Green Learning Community
www.loisgreenlearningcommunity.org
• Get Palliative: www.getpalliativecare.org
• Pallimed Connect
Editor's Notes
My story:
This is April. I met her in my clinic in Billings. She first came to me for symptom management of her metastatic breast cancer. She also wanted to know what to eat, how to keep her function high. She was curious about our “Hope for Tomorrow” program for cancer patients. She and her husband joined – and participated in yoga, cooking class, groups support with mindfulness. This picture was taken 6 weeks before she died.
1- my patients found me. They wanted someone to listen, to manage their symptoms while someone else battled their illness, someone to help make plan “b” and to address their whole person.
2- I realized I was not as good at managing symptoms for patients as I thought I was. I thought Zofran was the be-all-and-end-all for nausea. I was wrong. I thought opioids were taught in residency. I was wrong. I thought at end of life, all meds, except morphine and ativan were given, generally speaking. I thought I knew how to tell who was dying.
3- I liked tending to the seriously ill. I was intrigued and curious about their ability to live so very fully. To find joy. To talk about difficult things and to find meaning. I often found them to be more alive than many. They showed me what hope really meant.
Everybody dies.
Cancer continues to be one of the leading causes of death.
Good symptom management, coordination of care and help patients live better and longer.
The obligation of the physician is to alleviate suffering.
I used to think that this was the model. We “treat” and then we help people die peacefully. I was wrong.
It is more like this… but I still don’t fully agree with this picture. After all – it is usually symptoms (except when there are screens) that bring our patients to us: dyspnea, nausea, pain… But anyway, curative and palliative therapies tend to work hand in hand. You do this every day, and better than most.
The paradigm of palliative care is to approach the person from a multi-dimensional model. Biopsychosocialspiritual was the way I learned it in medical school. Mind-body-spirit might be the way integrative medicine physicians call it. Good care, is another name. Most of us tend to 1-6 with our patients all the time. Even in palliative care, 7 and 8 are often not in the mix.
Nurse with metastatic breast ca – loves to golf and to work 12 hour shifts.
Hip pain was limiting her activity, however. How to respond?
Intrathecal pump – coordinated between neurosurgery, anesthesia, and palliative care
LL is a 57 yo woman with metastatic pancreatic cancer, diagnosed 5 years ago.
She now presents to hospital with:
Pain (rectal)
Breathlessness (pleural effusion and pericardial effusion)
Anorexia, weight loss
Fatigue
Her goals have always been to live as long as possible, to see her children grow, and in the words of USC, to “fight on!”
Pain: Opioids, steroids, plus: nerve block – impar or sub-gastric ganglion.
Dyspnea: Opioids, chlorpromazine, plus: thoracentesis, pericardial window
We want to offer hope… so how can we?
Story: 21 year old, dying of adenocarcinoma – Crohn’s – bowel obstruction
After he was told that the cancer was found everywhere, there there was no more curative treatment available…
He asked:
Will I have to stay in the hospital or can I get home to see my dog? – He had a 4 month old golden retriever. He didn’t want to see her in hospital – just at home.
He is at home now. His brother brought him his golden retriever home. She now visits daily – when he is up for it.
He asked his hospice nurse: Will I see my best friend before I die? Where is she? In Germany. Well, we shall see then.
They found an agency to help. She flew home 3 days later to spend time with him.
I asked him if he had any questions… He asked:
When will the bad pain start again? – I answered, If I do my job well, if the hospice nurses do theirs well, it will never start again.
Everybody dies.
Cancer continues to be one of the leading causes of death.
Good symptom management, coordination of care and help patients live better and longer.
The obligation of the physician is to alleviate suffering.
You can help them secure their hopes… for how they wish to be cared for at the end of life…
And avoid what most of us will end up facing
Everybody dies.
Cancer continues to be one of the leading causes of death.
Good symptom management, coordination of care and help patients live better and longer.
The obligation of the physician is to alleviate suffering.
Everybody dies.
Cancer continues to be one of the leading causes of death.
Good symptom management, coordination of care and help patients live better and longer.
The obligation of the physician is to alleviate suffering.
Help our way… Engage with grace – the one slide project – promoted over Thanksgiving
National healthcare decisions day – In April – this year, this weekend. Perhaps we could coordinate something for next year?
Everybody dies.
Cancer continues to be one of the leading causes of death.
Good symptom management, coordination of care and help patients live better and longer.
The obligation of the physician is to alleviate suffering.